Great weekend so far! On Friday, we drove down to Monterey and stayed at the Travelodge for the night. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. I mean, it was still a motel, but a nice one. The free shampoo smelled good! We had a late dinner at the Mucky Duck, and then we drank champagne and did crossword puzzles at the motel (my company gave a tiny bottle of champagne to each employee on Friday in celebration of completing and sending a big document to the FDA--isn't that nice?). I wish I liked the taste of champagne! Unless my tastes change soon, I'll be drinking sparkling apple cider at the (mandatory) champagne toast at our wedding. I might as well drink something I enjoy!

On Saturday, we walked around downtown Monterey for a little while. There was an arts and crafts festival going on, but we didn't see anything too compelling. Well, there was a compelling bratwurst cart, but it was only 10 in the morning, so we didn't have any. There were also some cute dogs wearing "adopt me" vests. Luckily, we left dog-less :) We can't have any dogs at this apartment anyway (plus the dog would have nowhere to play!). I would like to get a cat someday though--I don't mind being on litter box duty!

Conveniently, the florist we were meeting with (Swenson and Silacci) was on the same street as the arts and crafts festival. The woman we spoke with seemed smart and on top of things, and everything we wanted actually added up to less than what we budgeted (that's the first time that's happened with the wedding planning!). So we left a deposit with them. It's good to have the florist taken care of. There are still some details to deal with, like how the flowers will get to Big Sur from Monterey (we can either pay a small delivery fee or have somebody pick them up the morning of the wedding). Also, we've been thinking about getting a canopy or arch (something like this) for Erin to stand in front of so that our vow-spot is better demarcated. S&S has a redwood arch that might do the job, but it's expensive to rent and have delivered. I'm tempted to try to rig something up ourselves (it's just a bunch of sticks and tulle, right?), but that may be a bad idea. We'll have to think about it some more.

After our successful florist visit, we had a late breakfast at Rosines (good food, but nothing worth going back for) and then headed to the aquarium. We got in for free and didn't have to stand in line (yay, being a member!), which was great. Patrick almost fell asleep in the Outer Bay exhibit, as usual. It's so soothing! There was a school of sardines in the tank. They were fun to watch and unpredictable!

Next, we went to Asilomar Beach and wandered around for awhile. There were some people setting up for a wedding, so we sat down on some rocks a good distance away and watched that. I was hoping to get to see the actual wedding, but it was getting cold, and nothing exciting was happening, so we left. I hope that bride was wearing something warm!

We made a last-minute reservation at the Old Bath House (the table we were at is pictured on the home page) in Pacific Grove for dinner, changed into more respectable clothes in the car, and had a delicious meal. Much like last time, we went with the Early Dining menu (prix fixe). We both started with Castroville artichokes and ended with lemon cheesecake. I had lobster bisque (so good!) for my first course, and Patrick had a pear, walnut, and blue cheese salad. Next, I had a seafood sampler (scallops, prawns, and salmon in a lemon beurre blanc with lemon risotto and yummy green beans) and Patrick had the salmon, which was pretty much the same as my meal, but only salmon. Great meal, great view, and impressive service (they re-fold your napkin when you leave to use the bathroom!), as before. It's a great date restaurant.

It was getting late, so we drove back to the Bay Area. Patrick had gotten his ring size measured when we were in Monterey that morning, so I ordered both of our wedding bands from Blue Nile when we got home. I'd prefer to order through a local business, but we didn't really like any of the places we visited, and Blue Nile had exactly the rings we wanted (plain 18k yellow gold bands--2.5 mm for me and 5 mm for him) and at a good price. We even got a discount because I ordered a free ring sizer from them--if you're going to be ordering a wedding or engagement ring from them, try the reference code SIZER45 to get $15+ off.

Today I went to our favorite local nursery which has the same name as my favorite East Coast supermarket and bought some cute ceramic pots for planting herbs in. Despite my initial failure growing an herb garden last fall, I'm trying again. This time, I'm going to keep them inside (since the bugs ate them when I put them outside) and find a sunnier spot (so they don't get moldy). I'm starting out with basil, chives, and chamomile. If those fail, I'll just buy seedlings from Wegmans and give up on using seeds. The baby tears from last weekend seem to be doing well so far, which is encouraging.

I also bought the Sunset Western Garden Book from Wegmans, which we've been eyeing for awhile. So much information! Patrick's going to build us a redwood planter box for the patio someday (he has the lumber; it's just a matter of finding the time and motivation on the weekends), and then we'll try to grow a vegetable garden! I'm so excited! Even if it doesn't work, it'll still be worthwhile.

Patrick helped Nat move out of his cottage (the same one we stayed in last summer) today. I stopped by and walked to JJ and F to get us sandwiches, just like we used to do when we lived at the cottage. College Terrace is such a nice neighborhood, full of hippies and people with babies and dogs and pretty gardens. I hope we can afford to buy a house there or somewhere similar someday.

Man, I love the summer and I love living here! I wish we had summer vacation, but I'll just have to settle for a 3-day weekend. Not too shabby :)

I've run into a bit of a snag with the wedding planning in terms of finding a place to do hair and makeup for me and my cohorts (that would be Tree and Erin) the day of the wedding. I had a trial appointment scheduled with Mantra in Carmel for this Saturday, but the manager (I think) called me earlier this week to discuss the details of the wedding, and it turns out that she can't open early enough to get me all done up and to the non-church on time. I'd been afraid of that, but I was hoping that it would work out, since they looked like such a nice salon, and the receptionist said they might be able to open early. I'm grateful that she called before my trial appointment, even if I had to scrap my plans. It saved me a good amount of money.

Hopefully I can find time on the day before the wedding to go to Mantra (with Tree and Erin if they're around) to get a manicure and pedicure. I want to give them some sort of business, since the manager helped me out. Plus she's having twins in October! They need all the income they can get!

The lady at Mantra recommended I call the March Hare, also in Carmel and also an Aveda salon, since she thought they might be able to travel and do wedding stuff away from the salon, which Mantra doesn't do. I called them today, and the woman I talked to was nice, but it would cost $700 to have her come out to Big Sur and do just my hair and makeup--that doesn't even include anybody else's! Yikes! Obviously, that's not going to happen. I'm not that full of myself :)

So the situation as it stands right now is that I've come to terms with the fact that we'll need to do hair and makeup in Big Sur, since going to a Carmel-area salon the morning of the wedding and then rushing to Big Sur in time for an 11am ceremony just isn't a good idea. I don't want to be stressed out. So I need to either find somebody who will come to Big Sur and do hair and makeup for a reasonable price, or we can just do it ourselves. This is a tiny wedding; we don't have to look super-fancy. Although I would like to have my hair look a little nicer than usual. Maybe I can practice making it look pretty. And I can go to a makeup place (MAC, Sephora, or a Clinique counter, perhaps) and have them give me some hints on how to apply good wedding makeup. It's not such a bad deal, and it would save lots of money.

It's too bad the spa part of Ventana doesn't do hair or makeup. They just do hot stone massages and mud facials. Oh well!

Anyway, I have two more potential hair and makeup people who might be able to do what I want for a reasonable price (I just have to call them--too bad I don't like talking on the phone!). And if those two don't work out, then we're doing our own hair and makeup! I hope you're cool with that, Tree and Erin :)

Oh, but back to this weekend--Patrick and I will still be spending Saturday in Carmel. Even though I won't have my salon visit anymore, we have an appointment to talk flowers with Swenson and Silacci (noisy website alert!) in Monterey. I'm not particularly excited about them, but they could be more appealing in person. Plus we're kind of running out of options, since the only florist in Big Sur is out of the running. Whatever--I'm fine if this wedding isn't perfect in every way. We'll be celebrating our wedding with friends and family, and they'll enjoy the day even if my hair isn't in an awesome updo. Hopefully I can stay in that mindset!

I'm excited for our mini-vacation in Carmel this weekend (it's only for one night, and we're staying at the Travelodge, but whatever!). We're hoping to take advantage of our free aquarium admission (since we're members) and go to the beach and eat some good food. That's a good way to live :)

Today we had an afternoon snack of fresh-squeezed orange juice (I found a cheapo citrus juicer on clearance at Cost Plus this morning--just what I was looking for!) and grapefruit halves, both using fruit from our Organic Express box. It was way better than normal juice from a carton, though maybe not the best orange juice we've ever had. The grapefruit was tasty too--good texture. I also ate the artichoke last night, but it wasn't very photogenic. But it was delicious! And jumbo!

Tonight I made pizza using our baking stone (no organic produce involved, sadly). The first time I tried making pizza with the stone, the pizza wouldn't slide onto the stone, so we just baked it on a cookie sheet. Not enough cornmeal, I guess. This time, the pizza was still hesitant to slide anywhere, but we coaxed it onto the stone. The bottom was nice and crispy (that picture down there is supposed to demonstrate this), and the pizza was good, but it still didn't taste like restaurant pizza. I think I need to work on making a thinner crust.

Oh, by the way--the dough recipe that comes with the Williams Sonoma pizza stone is wrong! I tried it last time, and it didn't give me anything approximating dough. It was more like slightly moistened flour (the recipe called for 1/2 cup water when I think it meant 1 1/2 cups water). Not cool!

This afternoon, I got my hands dirty and did some pseudo-gardening. I emptied out our failed herb garden, which has been sitting on our porch since last October, home to weeds and spores and who knows what else. I put in nice new dirt and planted California poppy seeds. I figure those should be easy to grow, since they grow in the wild. We'll see...

I also finally put new plants in our Ikea tubs (the same ones I used for wheatgrass). They've been sitting empty on our shelves all winter. Today, I bought 4-inch pots and planted some baby tears. They seem like a good match for us because they like shade, are easy to grow, and they were cheap! Apparently they tend to grow out of control when used as a ground cover in gardens, but that's not an issue indoors. I hope my babies grow big and strong!

I want more weekend!

We had a big box of organic produce waiting for us after work today, courtesy of Organic Express. There was so much good stuff in there! We need a bigger fruit bowl...

I used the chard and the onion in our dinner tonight: Pan-Roasted Sole with Mushroom-Marsala Sauce (it was really good, but the texture wasn't very fishlike--it kind of freaked me out), chard sauteed with garlic and red pepper flakes, and Leek-Tomato Quinoa. The quinoa was good! And it's good for us too. It was the first time we'd tried it. Did you know it's related to chard? Weird coincidence, having two chard family members in one meal.

I'm looking forward to using the rest of our produce. Most of it doesn't need to be used right away. I think we'll use the zucchini and artichoke next, since they're the next most perishable items. And we'll have the grapefruit for weekend breakfast, for sure. That still leaves us with broccoli, carrots (with their leafy greens on!), potatoes, mangoes, bananas (Patrick will polish those off in no time), oranges (we need a juicer!), apples, and pears. Plus a pineapple Patrick brought home earlier this week. Oh boy, this is so exciting!

I'm so excited! We signed up for Organic Express tonight. I've wanted to sign up for something similar for awhile, and we got a flyer in the mail from them today, and we agreed that it's worth trying out. We signed up to have a small box of fruits and vegetables delivered every other week. There is the option to customize our box, but we're sticking with the default produce. It's more fun and adventurous that way. I can't wait for Thursday to get here! Anybody have any good recipes for chard? My Uncle Bob told me the best way to prepare it a while back, but I can't remember anymore!

Here's a picture of us from the Stanford Law graduation this weekend. I like my dress, even though there were tons of women wearing similar dresses and it makes me look all red in pictures (but not in real life, as far as I could tell). I'm so proud of all of Patrick's lawyer friends. I wish they could all stay here though. They've been so nice and welcoming to me. I hope they enjoy all their new lawyerly jobs!

Also, I started using Aveda Scalp Benefits shampoo and conditioner this morning. My stylist recommended them to me when I asked about shampoo and conditioner, although she didn't really justify her suggestion--I didn't know my scalp needed any help. I think my hair looked curlier and nicer today, so maybe it actually did something. One thing's for sure--I smell like herbs and spices now that I use four Aveda hair products every morning. I think I like the smell of Aveda, but sometimes I'm not so sure.